Vikings Phil Loadholt vs Texans MNF

[tony hipchest]

holy shit. i totally forgot...

matt birk is gone ( i knew he was gone, just forgot who his replacement was) and second year center john sullivan out of notre dame is replacing him.

[MasterOfPuppets]

the ratbirds have no problem pluggin in rookies or 2nd year guys on thier line. grubbs, yanda, gaither,and now oher ...other than thier center, thier entire line has 3 yrs or less experience....

[devilsdancefloor]

I think if we keep drafting OL 3rd rd thru 7th we will not have a rookie start. if they where any better they would go in earlier rounds. We seem to get the guys who need a year to grasp play & have the size to start as a rookie

[tony hipchest]

great example MOP.

can anyone name the last high draft pick o-lineman for the titans?

chris snee supposedly got his start because he was the giants head coach's son-in-law.

again, im not complaining, but i really dont see any benefit of allowing our young linemen to rot on the bench.

hindsight is always 20-20, but we would be in better shape if we didnt give simmons an extension, allow essex to fill in like he was drafted for, and we woulda still had stapelton as backup insurance.

btw, we did throw stapelton in there last year and still won a superbowl. just a shame we had to pay simmons to do so.

(eating okolbi's dead money last year sucked too).

[Psyychoward86]

Originally Posted by lambertfan99

He would never understand the complex blocking schemes Coach Z is teaching. lol Anyhow, it seems to be Colberts weakness. He is pretty good at getting us talent, but OL is a glaring weakness of his.

i was thinking that too, but wasnt Colbert around when we drafted all of those great O-lineman in the mid-late 90's?


Man he's like Ozzie Newsome i guess: An insane drafting guru, but bad at drafting in one area. That's still great though if he keeps drafting at other areas like he's been doing for us!

[tony hipchest]

Originally Posted by devilsdancefloor

I think if we keep drafting OL 3rd rd thru 7th we will not have a rookie start. if they where any better they would go in earlier rounds. We seem to get the guys who need a year to grasp play & have the size to start as a rookie

i dont think so. p. jerry and bj raji are expected to start for atl and gb. ziggy hood is expected to be a rotational player in a best case scenario.

weve got a great system that not only benefits our rookies in the long run, but is favorable to our cap management.

im just saying, we may not be doing any of our o-line talent any favors by NOT throwing them into the fire. its not that we dont do it, its that i believe we wont do it (unless injuries dictate).


i believe you throw a young guy in there, it shows confidence and has them edgy to perform. hold a young guy out for three years and they may lose there edge and start to believe they suck.

linemen love to be in trenches, not on benches. (quick, print up a t-shirt)

[RoethlisBURGHer]

Originally Posted by MasterOfPuppets

the ratbirds have no problem pluggin in rookies or 2nd year guys on thier line. grubbs, yanda, gaither,and now oher ...other than thier center, thier entire line has 3 yrs or less experience....

I really hope the address the offensive line with a first round pick in 2010.

We don't have a guy to replace Hartwig. So unless we resign hartwig or sign another free agent this season...we either draft a guy or we start Stapleton, Legursky, or Shipley.

I honestly don't think we have a long-term answer at center.

I am also not sold on our current gaurds, and I still don't like Colon.

I hope Urbik improves and can take the RT job next season. Kemoeatu can be a very good player of he can learn to keep his temper and not freaking false start.

I would love to get a stud LT and move Starks back to RT. Colon is nothing more than a backup, IMHO.

This offensive line needs a lot of work. Hopefully we start to replenish our line with first and second round draft picks instead of second day draft picks.

[RoethlisBURGHer]

Originally Posted by tony hipchest

i dont think so. p. jerry and bj raji are expected to start for atl and gb. ziggy hood is expected to be a rotational player in a best case scenario.

weve got a great system that not only benefits our rookies in the long run, but is favorable to our cap management.

im just saying, we may not be doing any of our o-line talent any favors by NOT throwing them into the fire. its not that we dont do it, its that i believe we wont do it (unless injuries dictate).


i believe you throw a young guy in there, it shows confidence and has them edgy to perform. hold a young guy out for three years and they may lose there edge and start to believe they suck.

linemen love to be in trenches, not on benches. (quick, print up a t-shirt)

Jerry and Raji also don't have any depth in front of them to keep them on the bench. Ziggy had two two-time Super Bowl Champion defensive ends (and a two-time Super Bowl Champion nose tackle) in front of him.

I totally agree with what you said about keeping offensive linemen on the bench. We're not drafting offensive linemen good enough to start as rookies, much less their second year. We have been drafting developmental offensive linemen,

[MasterOfPuppets]

Originally Posted by Psyychoward86

i was thinking that too, but wasnt Colbert around when we drafted all of those great O-lineman in the mid-late 90's?


Man he's like Ozzie Newsome i guess: An insane drafting guru, but bad at drafting in one area. That's still great though if he keeps drafting at other areas like he's been doing for us!

nope...colbert was hired in 2000...he has used 1... 1st rd pick on an olinemen, 1... 2nd , and 2 ...3rds ....

[tony hipchest]

Originally Posted by RoethlisBURGHer

Jerry and Raji also don't have any depth in front of them to keep them on the bench. Ziggy had two two-time Super Bowl Champion defensive ends (and a two-time Super Bowl Champion nose tackle) in front of him.

I totally agree with what you said about keeping offensive linemen on the bench. We're not drafting offensive linemen good enough to start as rookies, much less their second year. We have been drafting developmental offensive linemen,

but heres my point....

most mocks had z hood going to the colts or bucs (where he woulda most likely started).

if p. jerry or even raji had fallen to us, we woulda most definitely picked them (as proven with our selection of hood).

all three woulda been back-ups on our defense.

the same can be said with our offensive linemen.

we coulda drafted j. smith, e. monroe, or cinci smith, and all three woulda got their asses kicked so bad in practice by harrison they wouldnt have a shot to sniff the starting line up with the steelers.

the same could probably be said of j. long or the browns thomas if we couldve selected them.

i taught my daughter how to swim a few weeks ago. i told her you have no business playing in a pool (and running around, balls out, and jumping in with her floaties) if you dont know how to swim.

i told her to take them off and jump in, and assured her i was there to keep her safe. you either sink or swim. if you give them the security blanket of floaties, they are bound to become afraid of drowning.

i just think the "floaties" being taken off of kemo, essex, and starks may have done them more good than harm.

colon is still holding down a spot. stapelton entered camp as the #1.